PC Upgrade Advice

[vx3.0]

Greetings!

First of all, i'm sorry in advance, but i think i started this thread in a right place. It's yet another "pc build help" thread but i really could use some. Few years back i asked an opinion on this very forum about PSU options - got great answers and i'm very happy with my Seasonic 650w 80 Gold.

So this time i'm thinking about upgrading my CPU, Motherboard and RAM. My current setup:
CPU: - Intel Core i5-2500 (non-k) 3.3Ghz
Motherboard: ASrock B-75 Pro-3 M (Intel B75)
GPU: ASUS ROG Strix RX 480 Gaming 8GB
Memory: 16GB DDR3 @ 1333 (x4 4GB sticks, various brands)
Storage: Samsung 850EVO SSD
PSU: Seasonic 650w 80 Gold
And i'm using Win 10 Pro with all that (in case it matters)
With this everything i need is working, i can play games etc, but i feel like its time to move on. Mostly my biggest concern is CPU. I feel like i'll be screwed with upcoming titles.

I have around 450-533$ budget to go with. With that kind of money i can currently get Ryzen 5 2600, 16GB AMD R7 performance series DDR4 mem (2133, 15-15-15), and i still would have around 80-90$ for a motherboard. Rest of the components will remain.

I mostly use my pc for gaming. I have 1080p monitor (1920x1080 native), and i can't really move to higher resolutions for now. So what i'm looking for is 60 or close to 60 fps gaming with possible downscaling (AMD VSR) from 2k when needed. I plan on using that for at least next 3 years.
Opinions? What motherboard you would recommend? I'm open to solutions as for cpu and memory as well. Thanks in advance. (P.S. Sorry, English is not my native lang)

 

[Jwpanz]

The first thing to look at here is the fact that you'll have to reinstall Windows. While not always necessary, reinstalling Windows can be forced on you from the OS itself as it does not particularly care for a major change in hardware (CPU, Motherboard, RAM). So plan on having to do that by backing up everything you wish to keep and be prepared to have to reinstall your games and programs.

Now, on to the meat and potatoes of this thread. I would definitely suggest upgrading your hardware. Here is an example of what you could do with that budget:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 2600 3.4GHz 6-Core Processor ($159.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI - B450-A PRO ATX AM4 Motherboard ($79.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($87.99 @ Newegg)
Monitor: Asus - VG245H 24.0" 1920x1080 75Hz Monitor ($181.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $509.96
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-10-24 07:38 EDT-0400

That list includes the parts you listed above and I squeezed in a decent FreeSync monitor so you can enjoy smooth gameplay. You will definitely see an improvement. However, if you only want new hardware and no monitor then you could go with what I listed sans monitor or push your budget with this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 7 2700X 3.7GHz 8-Core Processor ($304.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI - X470 GAMING PLUS ATX AM4 Motherboard ($116.98 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-3466 Memory ($101.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $523.96
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-10-24 07:45 EDT-0400

 

[Jwpanz]

Here's an Intel build I would suggest in that budget range:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i5-8600K 3.6GHz 6-Core Processor ($259.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master - MasterLiquid ML240L RGB 66.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI - Z370-A PRO ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($103.95 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $503.92
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-10-24 08:00 EDT-0400

 

[vx3.0]

@Jwpanz
Wow, thank you for such detailed answer! I'll certainly look through all that and see what i can get. But on both setups i see you included only 8 GB of memory. Did you do that only cause budget limitation or you dont see any reason to get 16? Thanks in advance.

 

[Jwpanz]

@Jwpanz
Wow, thank you for such detailed answer! I'll certainly look through all that and see what i can get. But on both setups i see you included only 8 GB of memory. Did you do that only cause budget limitation or you dont see any reason to get 16? Thanks in advance.

You're welcome! To address the RAM, yes I chose 8GB to allow for stronger hardware on the CPU side of things. The thing with RAM is that 8 vs 16GB really does not do much in the way of gaming and general use. More RAM does not mean more FPS in the majority of cases. Read this article here: https://www.techspot.com/article/1043-8gb-vs-16gb-ram/

With all of the builds I suggested you could populate the remaining 2 slots with additional RAM when you com into a little extra spending money. The general rule for upgrading and/or building a gaming system is to built it around the GPU and CPU. Everything else comes second or added later on (additional RAM, more storage, fancy lights, etc.).

Another thing I forgot to mention is that you could also sell off your old hardware. Perhaps you could land another $100-$200 by selling off your stuff on eBay? Just an idea to put some more money into your new build and maybe get yourself enough to put in 16GB of RAM. Check out the prices for your old hardware on eBay and see what they're selling for.

 

[vx3.0]

@Jwpanz
I see. So i can pretty much go with 8. I'll do some more research on that part, thanks.
Also i forgot to mention that i live in Russia and using things Like Amazon could not always be optimal price-wise. For example, using my local stores i cant complete any if your suggested builds. That Intel CPU alone will be 21.000 RUB, which eats like 2/3 of mine total 30.000-35.000 budget. But now i learned i can go with lower memory amount, and also g.skill memory is not really common here, its sold only in a few stores and pretty expensive. 3200-3400 is not affordable for me. So i'd like to request more budget options, maybe a few i can pick from? Honestly i just want a more or less modern hardware and more or less smooth 1080 gaming. I can go with a bit more budget pieces. Plus i don't think i'll overclock anything. Also i'm pretty detached from any modern hardware knowledge so here's some follow up questions:
1) 2133 memory is really that bad? Cause i can't really afford anything better. (With Ryzen 5 in mind)
2) What about AMD memory in general? Not recommended? What other good brands besides G.Skill i can get?
Also i really appreciate your time and advices, thanks alot!

 

[sizzling]

@Jwpanz
Wow, thank you for such detailed answer! I'll certainly look through all that and see what i can get. But on both setups i see you included only 8 GB of memory. Did you do that only cause budget limitation or you dont see any reason to get 16? Thanks in advance.

You're welcome! To address the RAM, yes I chose 8GB to allow for stronger hardware on the CPU side of things. The thing with RAM is that 8 vs 16GB really does not do much in the way of gaming and general use. More RAM does not mean more FPS in the majority of cases. Read this article here: https://www.techspot.com/article/1043-8gb-vs-16gb-ram/

With all of the builds I suggested you could populate the remaining 2 slots with additional RAM when you com into a little extra spending money. The general rule for upgrading and/or building a gaming system is to built it around the GPU and CPU. Everything else comes second or added later on (additional RAM, more storage, fancy lights, etc.).

Another thing I forgot to mention is that you could also sell off your old hardware. Perhaps you could land another $100-$200 by selling off your stuff on eBay? Just an idea to put some more money into your new build and maybe get yourself enough to put in 16GB of RAM. Check out the prices for your old hardware on eBay and see what they're selling for.

That article is quite old in technology timeframes and there are many reports of modern AAA games suffering some level of stuttering with 8Gb. My own experience of 8 vs 16 are games are still very playable with 8 but there can be stuttering at times even though average fps are the same. You will also notice many recent AAA games recommend 16GB. Personally Id only go with 8Gb if completely budget constrained, it has no headroom for the future.

 

[jeremyj_83]

What country do you live in as pcpartpicker has several international sites that can be used to find hardware in your currencies price range and from locations where you can get it. There are quite a few instances where the price of something here is 50% cheaper than somewhere else.

 

[vx3.0]

Anyway, taking into account whats avaliable for me, here's best i could come up with:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2600 BOX
Motherboard: ASUS TUF B450M-PLUS GAMING
RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX (x2 8GB), 2666Mhz, 16-18-18-35.
That would be 490$.
So how does that setup look? Maybe i can squeeze in faster memory but overall - will that work? Or is that bad? And why if so. Thanks in advance!

 

[jeremyj_83]

Going with RAM that is 2933MHz or faster is a good idea since that will increase the Infinity Fabric speed inside the CPU which will increase the CPU performance. The official supported maximum speed is 2933MHz for the Ryzen 2000 series so anything that fast or faster up to about 3200MHz will help squeeze out more performance.

 

[vx3.0]

Going with RAM that is 2933MHz or faster is a good idea since that will increase the Infinity Fabric speed inside the CPU which will increase the CPU performance. The official supported maximum speed is 2933MHz for the Ryzen 2000 series so anything that fast or faster up to about 3200MHz will help squeeze out more performance.

Thank you for response! Well, i looked and it seems i can replace RAM for this one:
Kingston HyperX FURY, 2933Mhz, 17-19-19-27.
That's absolute maximum i can do. Will that do? Also, what about motherboard? Should i get it? Or you can recommend something better?

 

[jeremyj_83]

That RAM should be fine same as the motherboard.

 

[vx3.0]

That RAM should be fine same as the motherboard.

That's great. Last question. That RAM should work fine with that motherboard, yes? I downloaded a pdf spreadsheet, and theres similar memory for 2*8 mode but with lower timings. A bit confusing.

 

[jeremyj_83]

I would expect the RAM to work just fine. https://media.kingston.com/pdfs/hx-product-memory-ddr4-amd-ryzen-and-hx-compatibility-us.pdf

 

[vx3.0]

Great! Thank you. Well then, i'm going with that RAM, and Asus Mboard after all.
Huge thanks to everyone who replied and helped me with my silly hardware struggles yet again. You guys rock. This thread has served it's purpose and can be closed.
Best wishes! Have a nice day.